All Star 2 - 2015

All Star 2 - 2015

Conference Chairs

“Life Stories: Creative Adventurers, Adventurous Creators”

“Life Stories: Creative Adventurers, Adventurous Creators”Theme Speaker: Novelist Tim Weed travels widely as a featured expert for National Geographic Expeditions and teaches in the MFA writing program at Western Connecticut State University.

He will explore the lives of several of history’s most fascinating pioneers and adventurers: men and women who explored little known geographical regions and/or pushed the envelope of artistic, scientific, and creative endeavor, in the process contributing in a meaningful way to humanity’s understanding of the world. Using his own extensive travels as a featured expert for National Geographic as background, Tim will also talk about his life as a contemporary writer and give a book talk about his newly released historical novel, Will Poole’s Island. It is recommended (but not required) that everyone purchase and read the book in advance of the conference.

Tim Weed is the winner of a Writer's Digest Popular Fiction Award, and his collected stories have been shortlisted for the New Rivers Press Many Voices Project, the Autumn House Fiction Prize, and the Lewis-Clark Press Discovery Award. Tim’s essays and articles, mostly on travel, the outdoors, and the writing craft, have appeared in national magazines including The Morning News, Cross Country Skier, Backcountry, Northern Woodlands, Writer’s Chronicle, and National Geographic’s Intelligent Travel blog. Based in Vermont and Nantucket, Tim teaches for GrubStreet in Boston and in the MFA Writing program at Western Connecticut State University. His professional career has taken him to more than twenty-five countries and every continent except Antarctica, and he is currently a featured expert for National Geographic Expeditions in Cuba, Spain, Patagonia, and Tierra del Fuego. Read more about Tim and his recently released debut novel, Will Poole’s Island, at www.timweed.net.

Minister of the week

Rev. David H. Messner is the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Savannah. He is in his third year of settlement and as a transplanted Southerner. A life-long UU, he loves church and the interactive process of discovery and creation that it represents. His ministry is committed to growing both religious commitment and community. His family is great lovers of Star. He first came to Star about 30 years ago as a youth and then returned as a family to the LOAS conferences.

David’s prior professional life was in management consulting, corporate strategic planning and international partnership development. He worked on building businesses and bringing medicines to market in several life science companies, including Eisai, Pfizer and Bausch & Lomb. He earned his Master's in Divinity from the University of Chicago with an emphasis on theology and religious ethics, his MBA from Yale University with concentrations in strategy and organization and an undergraduate degree in psychology from Reed College. He is currently a Graduate Fellow in Religion at Emory University, continuing studies in the field of ethics and society, his scholarly interests include the way institutions shape individual moral choice.

David and his wife, Jennifer, have two children and a Pyrenean Mountain Dog. They all love food, travel, the outdoors and books. They live on Skidaway Island on the coast of Georgia.

Choir Director

Joining us for a second summer as choir director is Rev. Michael Leuchtenberger from the UU Church of Concord, New Hampshire.

Registration, fees and information

Registration is now first come, first served. Register early to be sure to get in! This is a change from previous years.

A room & board deposit of $200 for each adult or child who will be 6 years of age or over as of July 11, 2015 is due with registration. Also, a conference fee of $100 per adult (age 18 as of July 11, 2015) and $85 per child (age 0 to 18), up to $370 per family, is due with registration. $10 of each individual's conference fee will be donated to the Ginny Levine Financial Aid Fund (up to $40 per family). Additional donations to this financial aid fund are welcome.

Each 18+ child out of high school must register separately. The room & board deposit and

conference fee are refundable until June 1, 2015. All letters, (acceptance, wait list, volunteer job, boat letter, etc), will be sent via email, so please remember to include your email address when registering.

Notifications: All letters, (acceptance, waitlist, volunteer job, boat letter, etc), will be sent via email, so don't forget to include your email address on your blue registration form. If you do not have an email address, please include a self addressed stamped envelope with your registration and we will snail mail the letters to you.